Power to the People: Reclaiming Our Constitution from Fascism

This article is dedicated to the memory of all those who have died at the hands of the United States government in “immigration” detention, on the streets of Minneapolis, and in communities across the country. Their lives and deaths are proof that fascism is not a future threat. It is the system under which we already live. The Constitution remains printed in schoolbooks and carved into marble, but its guarantees are being stripped away amendment by amendment.

Under Donold †®*mp’s second term, the “immigration” and security apparatus has become the sharp edge of this transformation. Through it, the state is destroying the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Fourteenth, Tenth, and Fifteenth Amendment protections that once defined American democracy.

Courtesy of The Guardian Jan. 4, 2026

A Regime That Kills to Silence Dissent

The government’s campaign is not abstract. It leaves bodies. In 2025, we know thirty two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the deadliest year in more than two decades. Many died of treatable illnesses after their pleas for medical help were ignored. Others died by apparent suicide in conditions that advocates describe as cruel and degrading. Some died in transit, never reaching their next destination alive.

In early 2026, at least six more people died in detention within weeks. On the streets, federal immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good, a thirty seven year old mother of three, as she watched over her neighborhood. They shot and killed nurse and lawful gun owner Alex Pretti while he held a phone and filmed them. The regime then smeared both as dangerous or even terrorist threats.

These deaths are not random errors. They are the predictable outcomes of a system that has abandoned constitutional limits and embraced rule by force.

The First Amendment: Speech and Protest Treated as Crimes

The First Amendment promises freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, of assembly, and the right to petition the government. Under †®*mp’s “immigration” regime, those freedoms survive only for those who praise the state. Everyone else risks violence.

In Minneapolis and throughout Minnesota, ordinary people have formed rapid response networks. When someone spots federal immigration agents, they blow whistles or honk horns. Neighbors pour into streets and parking lots to watch, to film, and to stand between armed agents and the vulnerable. They are not breaking windows or throwing rocks. They are holding phones and asking questions. Federal agents respond with pepper spray, tasers, and tackles. Observers describe being shoved to the frozen ground, zip tied, and dragged away after calmly recording arrests. City officials who appear at scenes to monitor operations report being shoved and threatened without cause.

Renee Good was participating in this tradition of observation when she was killed. Her presence and her community role were treated as provocations. Senior officials then called her a terrorist and an agitator. This is the government saying that using one’s voice and presence to hold armed agents accountable is itself a punishable offense.

When filming public officers and attending vigils result in beatings, arrests, or death, the First Amendment exists only on paper. In practice, the right to speak and assemble is reserved for those who cheer the president and his forces. That is the speech environment of a dictatorship.

The Second Amendment: Guns for Friends, Death for Enemies

The Second Amendment guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms, subject to regulation. The current regime has twisted this into a partisan weapon. Firearms carried by supporters are hailed as symbols of patriotism. Firearms owned by perceived opponents are treated as evidence of criminal intent.

Alex Pretti’s killing shows this clearly. He was a registered nurse and a lawful gun owner with a valid concealed carry permit. Video of his final moments shows him holding a phone, not a gun, as he records federal agents pepper spraying protesters. Agents swarm him, wrestle him to the ground, and then fire multiple shots.

Immediately after, presidential allies describe him as a “would‑be assassin” and suggest that his legal gun ownership justified agents treating him as a mortal threat. When †®*mp is asked, he declares that citizens “cannot walk in with guns,” ignoring the fact that the law openly allows it when people follow the rules, as Pretti did.

Meanwhile, the same political movement celebrates individuals who travel armed to confront protesters, and it raises money and fame for those who shoot and kill in the name of “order.” The message is unmistakable. The Second Amendment protects you only if you stand on the right side of power. If you use your lawful gun ownership while also challenging federal authority, that right evaporates.

In a fascist system, law is not neutral and rights are not universal. They are privileges for the loyal and death sentences for the disobedient.

The Fourth Amendment: Every Street a Checkpoint

The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures. It requires warrants, probable cause, and proportionality. Under current conditions, immigration enforcement treats whole cities as if they were occupied territory, where this amendment barely applies.

In Minnesota, caravans of federal vehicles roam neighborhoods, often with officers masked and without visible identification. Residents describe unexpected stops at bus shelters, parking lots, and sidewalks, where agents demand papers and seize people without warrants. In some cases, agents raid homes based on license plate scans or database errors, later admitting they had the wrong person.

The invasion does not end with physical bodies. Immigration authorities obtain massive troves of personal information from data brokers, including addresses, phone numbers, and even location histories. Observers like Noah and Judy Levy watched agents surround their car, scan their license plate, and then appear in front of their house. They were not suspects in any crime. Their only “offense” was watching IÇE. The agency will not say which tools it used, which databases it accessed, or how long it will store that information.

When armed officers can smash car windows and haul observers away for standing nearby, when they can show up at your door because you watched them the night before, and when they can do so without meaningful judicial oversight, the promise of the Fourth Amendment is empty. In substance, the government has claimed the power of a general warrant, the very abuse the amendment was written to prevent.

The Fifth Amendment: Life and Liberty Taken Without Fair Process

The Fifth Amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. That principle is routinely violated in the “immigration” system.

People are seized and detained for months or years, sometimes in remote military bases, often without timely hearings. Many detainees have no lawyer. Others receive only minutes before a judge, often over video, with overworked interpreters and little chance to present evidence. Some are deported without ever understanding the charges against them.

Deaths in custody show the ultimate failure of due process. When someone dies of untreated illness, or is killed in transit, there is no meaningful procedure governing the loss of life. Families often receive conflicting stories about what happened. In several cases, government agencies change their accounts after journalists uncover evidence that contradicts official statements. This is not a system of law. It is a machinery of disposal.

The death of Geraldo Lunas Campos shows this pattern in slow motion. IÇE’s initial statement mentioned only “medical distress” and said staff saw him in distress in segregation and called medical personnel. Only later, after his family was told the death would likely be ruled a homicide, did a Depår†men† of Hømelånd Seçuri†y spokesperson claim he had attempted suicide and “violently resisted” staff who were trying to save him. The final autopsy makes no mention of a suicide attempt. Instead, it documents injuries consistent with guards forcing him to the ground and compressing his neck and torso until he could not breathe. When the homicide ruling became public, DH$ responded by emphasizing his past convictions and labeling him a “criminal illegal alien and convicted child sex predator,” rather than addressing why a man in handcuffs died under their control.

Outside detention, the threat of arbitrary loss extends further. Federal agents who fire on unarmed citizens like Good and Pretti face no immediate indictment, no arrest, and often no transparent investigation. The president and his cabinet rush to defend them and smear the dead. The message is clear. The state reserves to itself the power to end a life without a process that looks anything like justice.

The Sixth Amendment: Fair Trials in Name Only

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial, an impartial jury, and effective assistance of counsel in criminal prosecutions. Although “immigration” proceedings are labeled “civil,” the expanding use of criminal charges around protests and immigration makes the Sixth Amendment relevant.

Protesters and observers have been arrested on broad charges like “obstruction,” “civil disorder,” or “assault on an officer” after simply filming, shouting, or standing close to an arrest. These charges give prosecutors leverage. Faced with the threat of long sentences, many people accept plea deals rather than fight. The public rarely learns the full story.

At the same time, the climate of fear and retaliation around “immigration” has a chilling effect on lawyers. Firms that represent migrants, watchdog groups, or even officials who oppose †®*mp face harassment campaigns and political attacks. This pressure makes it harder for those targeted by the state to find courageous, independent counsel. A right that exists only for the safe and uncontroversial is not truly universal.

When the state deploys criminal charges as tools to intimidate opponents and to discourage legal representation, the Sixth Amendment’s promise of fair trials becomes an illusion for those most in need of it.

The Eighth Amendment: Cruelty as a Policy Choice

The Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishments. In theory, immigration detention is civil, not punishment, but the reality inside detention centers and jails reflects a level of cruelty that would violate this standard even in criminal prisons.

The thirty two deaths in custody in 2025 include people who died of heart failure, strokes, untreated infections, respiratory failure, and alleged suicides. Families and advocates repeatedly describe patterns of ignored complaints, delayed hospital transfers, and indifferent or abusive staff. Some detainees begged for medical care that never came. Others were placed in isolation or left in filthy conditions.

A recent autopsy from Texas makes this cruelty undeniable. Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos, a fifty five year old father of four held in solitary confinement at Camp East Montana on the Fort Bliss military base, died after guards restrained him until he stopped breathing. An autopsy by the El Paso County medical examiner found abrasions on his chest and knees, hemorrhages on his neck, and petechial hemorrhages in his eyelids and neck, and ruled that he died of asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The report classified his death as a homicide, not an accident. Witnesses inside the camp say he was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one wrapped an arm around his neck until he lost consciousness.

His death was one of at least three reported at Camp East Montana in little more than a month, including the death of Guatemalan detainee Francisco Gaspar‑Andrés after suspected liver and kidney failure, and the “presumed suicide” of Nicaraguan detainee Victor Manuel Diaz whose body was not even sent to the county medical examiner. That cluster of deaths in a single tent camp shows a system where life and due process have both been abandoned.

This cruelty extends beyond neglect. Agents use pepper spray, tasers, and physical violence on detainees and even on bystanders. People have been beaten, shackled for hours, and transported in conditions that contributed to their deaths. These practices inflict extreme pain and, in too many cases, lead to fatal outcomes for people whose underlying alleged violations are civil infractions or minor crimes.

A government that cages people in lethal conditions and shrugs when they die is violating not only its own laws but the baseline moral standard that the Eighth Amendment embodies.

The Fourteenth Amendment: Two Classes of People

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection of the laws and due process for every person within the country’s jurisdiction, citizen or not. Under †®*mp’s “immigration” program, this guarantee has fractured. There is one set of rules for those the regime regards as “real Americans,” and another for immigrants, people of color, and residents of disfavored states.

Equal protection is mocked when the federal government floods Minnesota with thousands of agents not because of an actual spike in crime but because its governor ran against †®*mp and its voters often choose Democrats. Somali American citizens are stopped, questioned, and sometimes detained under a supposed “immigration” mandate that does not apply to them. This is punishment of communities for their identity and political choices.

Due process collapses when people are shot in the street and immediately labeled terrorists or assassins. It collapses when detainees die in custody and authorities alter their stories to avoid responsibility. It collapses when a mother of three can be killed by an agent who faces no immediate legal consequences while the president’s team slanders her.

In practice, the Fourteenth Amendment now functions as a shield for those loyal to the regime and a broken promise for those it targets.

The Tenth Amendment: States Under Occupation

The Tenth Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states and the people. Today, that promise is under assault wherever †®*mp uses federal forces to override local self‑government.

Minnesota and other jurisdictions have adopted sanctuary policies and separation ordinances that limit cooperation with federal "immigration" enforcement. They have chosen, through their own democratic processes, to protect residents from certain forms of federal intrusion. In response, the †®*mp regime has launched the largest “immigration” operation in Depår†men† øf Hømelånd Seçuri†y history in exactly these places.

Thousands of agents from IÇE, Børder På†røl, and other agencies now patrol cities and towns whose elected leaders have asked them to leave. The president has threatened to use the Insurrection Act and to cut off funds if states or cities resist. This is not a good‑faith dispute over policy. It is the central government punishing subnational governments for disobedience.

When a president can effectively occupy a state that voted against him, and when local authorities are powerless to protect their residents from federal abuse, the balance of power envisioned by the Tenth Amendment has been destroyed.

The Fifteenth Amendment: Voting Rights Under Shadow of Fear

The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination in voting on the basis of race. While the text remains, the environment created by the “immigration” crackdown undermines the ability of many communities of color to participate freely in democracy.

“Immigration” raids and federal deployments are heavily concentrated in Latino, Black, and immigrant neighborhoods. Residents see their friends, coworkers, and family members seized in front of schools, hospitals, and workplaces. They watch armed agents roaming their streets and learn that their state is being treated as an enemy because of how it voted.

In such an environment, going to a rally, registering others to vote, or even appearing on a public list as a political organizer can feel dangerous. This fear is not theoretical. People have been arrested and assaulted while engaging in constitutionally protected activity. Even if no poll tax or literacy test is imposed, the psychological cost of participation becomes enormous for targeted communities.

When people of color are effectively told that voting against the president will bring occupation and harassment upon their neighborhoods, the right to vote is no longer equal. It becomes a choice between voice and safety.

A Dedication to Those the Regime Has Killed

This article is dedicated to those whose lives have already been taken by this government.

To Renee Good, who stood watch for her neighbors and paid with her life.

To Alex Pretti, who exercised his rights as a citizen and lawful gun owner and was killed anyway.

To Geraldo Lunas Campos, the Cuban father of four whose death in solitary at Camp East Montana was ruled a homicide by asphyxia after guards held him down until he could not breathe.

To Victor Manuel Diaz, the Nicaraguan detainee swept up during the Minneapolis crackdown and later found dead at Camp East Montana, whose passing was quickly labeled a “presumed suicide” and kept within the military base’s shadow.

To Francisco Gaspar‑Andrés, the forty eight year old man from Guatemala who died after being transferred from the same tent camp to a hospital with suspected liver and kidney failure.

To the thirty two people who died in IÇE custody in 2025, whose names tell stories of families, work, dreams, and love: the Honduran construction worker who called his mother about fainting spells and never called again; the Ethiopian asylum seeker who died in an Arizona hospital; the Ukrainian man who fled war only to die of an apparent stroke in detention; the Haitian mother who reported chest pains and was denied care; the Mexican grandfather who never made it from the county jail to the detention center alive; the DACA recipient “Lenchito” who died in a Florence complex; the longtime Canadian resident who died in Miami; the Cuban mechanic who spent decades rescuing animals and died weeks after being taken; and all the others whose stories reflect a common thread of neglect and abuse.

To the detainees who have already died in 2026, whose names and stories are still emerging, and to every person who has suffered violence, fear, and loss under this regime’s boot.

They are not statistics. They are evidence.

The Constitution in Name, Fascism in Practice

The text of the Constitution has not been altered since †®*mp returned to office. The amendments still exist. Courts still cite them. Politicians still swear to uphold them. But fascism does not always announce itself by formally repealing rights. It often works by hollowing those rights out from within, leaving the shell intact while the substance rots away.

A state that beats and kills observers for filming agents has no meaningful First Amendment.

A state that executes lawful gun owners it deems disloyal has no meaningful Second Amendment.

A state whose masked agents roam cities, breaking into homes and cars on opaque data hits, has no meaningful Fourth Amendment.

A state that cages and kills without real process, coerces pleas, and intimidates lawyers mocks the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.

A state that cages people in deadly conditions and shrugs at their deaths violates the Eighth Amendment.

A state that targets specific communities and states for punishment and treats their residents as less than equal has abandoned the Fourteenth, Tenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.

This is not a country on the brink of fascism. It is a fascist regime that continues to wear democratic symbols. The people whose names fill the death lists, the families torn apart by raids, and the neighbors who risk pepper spray and bullets to blow a whistle on their street already know this.

The question now is whether the rest of the country will recognize that the Constitution, as a living shield, is gone for many of us, and whether it will fight to bring it back before the last remaining protections are gone for everyone.

Power to the People

The dead have given their testimony. The Constitution speaks through their silence. Now the living must answer.

Power to the people who blow the whistle when IÇE vans roll through.

Power to the people who film through pepper spray and tasers.

Power to the people who stand between armed agents and their neighbors.

Power to the people who refuse to let homicide autopsies be buried in propaganda.

Power to the people who occupy the streets the regime wants to empty.

Donold †®*mp's masked forces hold the guns today. But power flows from those who claim it.

The First Amendment lives when you record.

The Second Amendment lives when you defend each other. The Fourth Amendment lives when you deny them your fear.

The Constitution lives when you refuse their script.

Power to the people — not the tent city guards, not the data brokers, not the regime.

Take it back. Today. Renee Good protected others. Alex Pretti filmed and stood firm. Geraldo Lunas Campos endured solitary. They showed you how.

Your turn.

References

Goodman, A., & Serwer, A. (2026). How †®*mp is unleashing his partisan militia on immigrants and his ideological enemies. The Intercept Briefing [Audio podcast transcript]. The Intercept.

Hesson, T. (2026, January 24). Deaths mount as †®*mp immigration push intensifies. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/deaths-mount-trump-immigration-push-intensifies-2026-01-25/

Hesson, T. (2025, December 31). 2025 was IÇE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are the 32 people who died in custody. The Guardian.

Planas, R., & Witherspoon, A. (2026, January 19). These are the agencies detaining people across the U.S. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/19/donald-trump-immigration-crackdown

Swaine, J. (2026, January 28). Has the U.S. entered the darkest period of Donold †®*mp’s second term? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/28/darkest-period-donald-trump-second-term

The Intercept. (2026, January). IÇE invades the Twin Cities. The Intercept Briefing [Audio podcast transcript]. The Intercept.

Torres, J. (2026, January 22). Death of Cuban immigrant in IÇE custody in Texas ruled a homicide, autopsy finds. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/death-cuban-immigrant-ice-custody-texas-ruled-homicide-autopsy/

Wired Staff. (2026, January 8). IÇE agent who reportedly shot Renee Good was a firearms trainer. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/ice-agent-jonathan-ross-renee-good-shooting-firearms-trainer-testimony/